TEA: No accreditation statuses for school districts in 2012-2013

AUSTIN – Commissioner of Education Michael L. Williams announced today that the Texas Education Agency will not assign accreditation statuses to the more than 1,200 independent school districts and charter schools for the 2012-2013 school year.

“In preparation for the transition to the new State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) accountability system, the Texas Education Agency did not assign academic accountability ratings for 2012,” said Commissioner Williams. “Because student performance is a key indicator in the state accreditation system, and because that data is not available due to the transition to STAAR, the Agency will suspend the assignment of accreditation statuses until the 2013-2014 school year.”

The accreditation statuses are based on state academic accountability ratings, the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (known commonly as School FIRST), data reporting, special program effectiveness, and compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.

Under the Texas Education Code, the commissioner of education annually assigns one of four accreditation statuses to each school district: Accredited; Accredited-Warned; Accredited-Probation; or Not Accredited-Revoked. In the 2011-2012 school year, 97 percent of Texas school districts and charter schools earned full state accreditation.

Though no accreditation statuses will be assigned for 2012-2013, 14 school districts or charter schools that would have received a lower accreditation status (based on a FIRST rating of Substandard Achievement) during the 2012-2013 school year are being notified of that fact. In those cases, the Agency will require some additional steps.